Imprisoned Voters Take Aim at the Presidential Election
A coalition of concerned citizens in Alabama is shaking up the GOP with their goal of registering voters in the most unlikely of places -- state prisons. A voter registration drive led this week by Rev. Kenny Glasgow, began registering prisoners to vote, a right guaranteed under Alabama's State Constitution, so they could cast absentee ballots.
The drive was originally embraced by Richard Allen, the commissioner of corrections in Alabama, but it was stopped when he received a letter on Thursday from the Alabama Republican Party opposing the drive. Its chairman, Mike Hubbard, told Mr. Allen that the party supports voter registration but not for prisoners, citing a need for safeguards against possible voter fraud.
Rev. Glasgow challenged this statement and said, "Voter registration drives are an essential part of our democracy. This action by the GOP and the Department of Corrections smacks of voter intimidation. Our focus isn't politics, its restoration. We're just doing what the Bible says, visiting people in prison and ministering to them. The chairman of the Republican Party and the chairman of the Democratic Party can go into prisons with us and monitor the registration process to make sure it's nonpartisan, if that's a concern."
In Alabama, nearly 250,000 people have been stripped of their right to vote due to a felony conviction. But, in a 2006 court ruling which was the result of a lawsuit by Ryan Haygood of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, a judge found that only those persons convicted of felonies of "moral turpitude" lose their right to vote. The judge found that certain felonies--such as drug possession--do not constitute crimes of moral turpitude and, therefore, individuals convicted of those crimes do not lose their voting rights, even during incarceration.
Rev. Glasgow's organization, Alabama-based The Ordinary People's Society (TOPS) and their national partner, the Drug Policy Alliance, estimate that more than 50,000 people convicted in Alabama of felonies falling outside the "moral turpitude" definition have been wrongly denied their right to vote, or anyway believe they lost that right due to a felony conviction.
While drug use is proportionally equal across all racial lines, African Americans are incarcerated for drug crimes at much higher rates than whites. Blacks make up only 26 percent of Alabama's population but are nearly 60 percent of the prison population. And, for every white person in an Alabama jail, there are about four black people.
"We've got to start restoring people's lives by providing treatment, by restoring the right to vote," said Reverend Kenneth Glasgow, TOPS executive director and state coordinator of their New Bottom Line campaign. "When a person gets a felony conviction, they can lose more than their voting rights; they can lose public assistance, public housing and financial aid for school. The drug war has become a war on people and we now spend more on incarceration than on treatment. Why do we spend more on producing criminals than producing citizens? We need a new bottom line."
The right to vote is an important part of the rehabilitation process and should be given to those who have paid their debt to society. An estimated 5.3 million Americans are denied the right to vote because of laws that prohibit voting by people with felony convictions. A few years ago, I was one of those Americans. I was on parole and could not vote after serving 12 years of a 15-to-life sentence for a nonviolent drug crime under New York's draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws. After my release, I felt the pain of felony disenfranchisement since it seemed I was being further punished for my crime. I was elated when, after waiting for five years, I got off parole and was able to cast my first vote. I felt I was fully welcomed back by society as a citizen.
"Alabama state law makes it clear that people incarcerated for simple drug possession never lose their right to vote, even while incarcerated," said Glasgow. "The GOP and the Alabama Department of Corrections cannot decide on their own which constituencies are going to have access to the vote, and which will be barred from it. We live in a democracy, after all."
Anthony Papa is the author of 15 To Life and communications specialist for Drug Policy Alliance.
Follow Anthony Papa on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Anthony Papa
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
Thanks for the great post Anthony. I have been reading your articles for a while at the drug policy alliances website and I love the work you have done since your release. You are truly a model citizen to get back up and fight after what happened to you. I know so many people victimized by the system who just gave up the fight.
FOR THE FULL PERIOD OF TIME THAT ANYONE IS INCARCERATED in any type of jail/prision /prison mental facility- THEIR RIGHT TO VOTE SHOULD BE TAKEN AWAY FROM THEM- and they should not be allowed to register to vote until their parole is complete - and they have a permanent residence. I don't care if they are convicted of felony crimes or otherwise.
The way things are in jails and prisons in this country - most prisoners are better off than most retired folks - while in prison, they have shelter (all utilities included ), they have food (usually nutritional experts make sure they are fed nutritionally sound diets), they have medical care (they have their own urgent-care centers and hospitals), they have dental care (don't have to worry about dental insurance), they have all their clothing provided (kept warm in winter, and cool in summer), they have educational benefits (can earn a college degree and even a law degree) - they even have conjugal visits - and fully-equipped libraries, and gymnasiums, and weight-lifting equipment - so they can keep strong and healthy so when they get out of prison - they can go on welfare -and THIS IS CALLED PRISON?????
GEEEEEEEEEE - if you take away their right to vote - WOULDN'T THAT BE SAD?? Prison is supposed to be prison - and today the prison-system doesn't know the meaning of the word punishment !
I partially agree, however I think only the people who've done henious crimes should have their votes taken away.
You are so wrong it scares me. First of all. Don't underestimate the humiliation of being told where to go and what to do at all times. I have actually been to jail (drug possession...go figure) I had no TV, no interaction with anybody except to be moved to go to court.
Furthermore...since your point wasn't jail is so nice but that felons shouldn't be able to vote lets look at this logically.....
Crimes are determined by the people we vote for. So if something is grossly unfair (like the drug war in my opinion) and we want to change the law we go and vote against the law but alas a significant group of people can't vote to change the law for which they have been arrested and incarcerated.
If you want help in your own head...replace "drugs" with "alcohol" in all your bizarre rants and then see how you feel.
Peace! Vote Obama
I agree that prisoners should be punished to a degree, but aren't you just a wee bit over the top? Better than most retireds have it? Do they ALL get conjugal visits? Really? Where are your facts? Does the degree of the crime not make any difference? What if was pot smoking?
I think you should tune in to those shows on MSNBC, Lockup, or whatever it's called. It hardly looks like summer camp! What would you rather have for prisoners anyway? How about the torture rack or a bed of nails or how about just pulling their toenails out? Would that be enough punishment for you?
What a bunch of BS. I can't speak for Ala. but in North Carolina ( we have more prisoners than most countries) most of what you typed is incorrect, propaganda, or just flat out lies. Prisoners die every day from neglect and abuse in our prisons. If conjugal visits were allowed the revisitism rate would be cut in half. Even Cuba allows conjugal visits and home cooked food for Cuba's prisoners. Dental? Yes they will pull teeth. Law libraries are not allowed in N.C. prisons. A degree? Not in N.C. prisons. They tried to remove the weight pile and the TV's, but the guards protested.
I was wrongly convicted of 2nd degree murder, and won a unanamous appeal. I spent three years of my life in N.C. prisons and I wrote a book about my misadventure. Our prisons destroy families and ruin young lives. Most of the industrialized nations (and some smaller ones too) do a better job of turning prisoners into productive citizens than America does. disinformation such as your post makes our national shame of how we treat our prisoners, even worse.
Skip Roth
Skip- The N. Carolina department of corrections web-site lists all the programs and benefits offered in their prison system. Had everything from educational programs to health benefits including dental. Our prison system is a sham. They must be forced to do something that helps pay for their incarceration. If your caught with drugs , just add five years to their sentence. The liberal nuts, judges and lawyers, are way to weak on criminals. We need to build bigger and better prisons. Prisons that are fair and turn a criminal into a better person, while at the same time they do or make something to help pay for the cost to house them.
Thank you for this important post. It is a travesty that the right to vote is removed from anyone for any reason. That is Thee one thing that makes everyone equal in this country, when everything else does not.
This Prison Industrial Complex that is taking our taxes by the bucket, to house smokers for gawds sake at ten times what it would cost to treat them is a racket. It serves so many nefarious purposes...strip the vote, hang a felony record on, disqualify for welfare benefits, disable job rights...the list goes on and on.
It falls on the poor of course and on the non-white the most.
It attacks the American family, breaks it up, pushes it into poverty. All this for a Wall Street Stock on the exchange that rich men can buy and make more money on. Isn't that special?
Give the prisoners their vote, then give them their freedom!
Stop the Prisoner Class cultivation by denying funding to Prison Industries through state legislatures.
Lobbyists wrote all these "get tough on crime" laws to increase prisoner numbers $$$. Every new twist to a law brings new "clients to house".
Turn the prisons into Free Govt Health Clinics!
As for the military the number one contender for the White House (bar none) is Sen.Obama.
How about those that are out of prison, they CAN VOTE! check the laws accordingly Some of those who have served time and (as i believe) no other obligation to the system they can VOTE!!
HOPE THEY ARE AS WORRIED ABOUT THE MILITARY GETTING A CHANCE TO VOTE
Going after the prisoner vote- I'm not surprised, desperate times lead to desperate measures. It will not help in Alabama anyway. McCain/Palin 08...
Shouldn't your name be True Red American? If you are old enough to remember Watergate, Alabama's Maxwell AFB prison was home to some Republican's serving time. Maybe Republicans should support voting by inmates.
I am proud that this is being done in Alabama. Even our judges know the sentences imposed by the legislature in response to voters' fears are outlandish. That's why Drug Courts have sprung up throughout the state -- to get users clean up rather than locked up.
Alabama is probably a lost cause thanks to bigoted, poorly educated and poorly informed voters, but note that your candidates in Alabama don't mention that they are Republicans in their TV ads this year.
I will consider it a victory if the national news waits until 7:15 to declare that Alabama has voted for McCain and the oppressor class.
How did u know know how the prisoners will vote?
Or are u simply assuming that,the entire America doesnt want McCain?
Because if anything,they should vote for McCain as most of them wont know who Obama is. some of them might have been in there long enough not to have witness the rise of Sen obama.
republicans wont be for prison voting until the majority of them are in prison where they belong. :)
Desperate times? Have you been in a alternate universe in the past 50 years? Have you looked at the republican ticket lately? Are you aware of the republican presidental canidates past and present? Did you even read the article?
I think you meant to respond to True Blue American (NOT).
ahem. i read the article. did YOU read my post?
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
